The Present Application relates generally to a hybrid connector, and more particularly, to a connector having a rigid optical connection area and a flexible electrical connection area.
In a conventional electronic device, such as a personal computer, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a digital or video camera, a music player, a game machine or a car navigation device, in order to realize both a decrease in the overall size of the casing and an increase in the size of the display screen, the casing may be preferably configured to be collapsible. In such a case, a flexible printed circuit (FPC) and conductive wires such as a fine coaxial cable may be arranged to pass through the inside of a hinge portion, allowing a casing to be pivotably connected with another so that signals can be parallely transmitted.
Although an increased signal transmission speed is necessary to increase image resolution, there is a limit to increasing the inside dimension of the hinge portion. Thus, it is impractical to arrange a conductive wire having a large width and/or diameter. In addition, to protect against electromagnetic interference (EMI), the conductive wire must become larger in width and/or diameter. In this regard, a method of optical transmission is preferred, capable of transmitting a large amount of signals and providing an excellent EMI countermeasure. An example is illustrated and described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-275717.
Another example is illustrated in FIG. 8. In FIG. 8, an opto-electrical hybrid board 801 includes a plurality of electrical terminals 851 arranged on a surface thereof, and an optical semiconductor device 872 (e.g., a light receiving element or a light emitting element). A plug of an opto-electrical hybrid connector 920, connected to the board 801, includes a plug housing 930 connected to an optical fiber 901 and an electrical wire 951. An optical path conversion portion is mounted to the plug housing 930, and is connected to an extreme end of a core portion 911 of the optical fiber 901 so as to change a direction of light transmitted thereto to about a right angle, and a connector terminal 952 which is connected to an extreme end of the electrical wire 951.
When the board 801 is connected to the plug 920, a lower end of the connector terminal 952 is brought into tight contact with an upper face of the electrical terminal 851. At the same time, a lower surface of the optical path conversion portion 961 opposes the optical semiconductor device 872. Thus, the electrical wire 951 is connected to the electrical terminal 851 and transmits/receives signals to/from the electrical terminal 851, and the core portion 911 of the optical fiber 901 transmits/receives optical signals to/from the semiconductor device 872.
However, since the conventional connector is not provided with any special mechanism for achieving a positioning of the plug 920 and the board 801, it is difficult to perform a connecting operation. Usually, when the core portion 911 is optically connected to the optical semiconductor device 872, regardless of the presence of the optical path conversion portion 961, the positioning of the optical paths of the core portion 911 and the optical semiconductor device 872 require a high degree of precision. For this reason, connecting the plug 920 and the board 801 together without an appropriate mechanism for achieving positioning is extremely difficult.